This question <78|81> overall <79|81> Hans: <79|82>.

Question 157: Describe a situation in which something which was not produced as a commodity is converted into a commodity through the exchange.

[80] Hans: Commodity by Exchange   Marx's standard example is the following: a primitive tribe which produces things through direct cooperation, without exchange, ends up with too much of something; maybe they had an especially good harvest and have more corn than they themselves can use. Then they decide to trade this corn with a neighboring tribe, which itself ended up with an excess of something else.

Here the corn was not produced as a commodity, because the producers intended it originally only for their own use. Only afterwards the corn was turned into a commodity by the decision to exchange the surplus.

Kapitalism in [78] brings the example of waste which was first discarded as worthless, but now it can be sold to a recycler. This example fits the criteria of the Question, but is not as instructive as the above example, because the waste was not originally produced under non-commodity relations. From the beginning, it was a waste product under commodity production.

Frankel [74] brings the example of health care. This is a product which does not fit very well under commodity production, but in the USA it is produced as a commodity anyway. There are many examples like this in late capitalism. Commodity production is an archaic way of organizing production.

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